To all the veterans out there, including the many veterans in our own family, wishing you the best on this Memorial Day - thank you for your service! Here are my girls at our local parade this morning.
 I'll be doing a reading and writer chat with my fellow Fairfield Scribes authors Elizabeth Chatsworth and Gabi Coatsworth, and we'll be joined by local sci-fi author Roman Godzich. The event will take place from 7pm-8:30pm in the aptly-named Steampunk Library in The Storyteller's Cottage at 750 Hopmeadow Street in Simsbury, Connecticut. From the Storyteller's Cottage website:
We're going to be reading an eclectic mix of speculative fiction - from steampunk to fantasy, from science fiction to magical realism. So there will be something to interest everyone who loves a good story! Go HERE to register for the event - there's a $5 cover charge to attend. I hope to see you there.   I'm excited to say that several of my books and shorter works are eligible to be nominated for the Aurora Awards, one of the top Canadian speculative fiction awards. These are awards for Canadian speculative fiction authors and artists, voted on by Canadians. All you have to do to nominate works for the award is to join the Canadian Science Fiction & Fantasy Association (1-year membership is $10). Nominations close on May 18th, so there's a bit of time left to get your votes in before the final ballot is chosen.
Here are my works that are on the lists: Best YA Novel Eligibility - The Rose Queen, Alison McBain, Fairfield Scribes Best Short Fiction Eligibility - Red, Alison McBain, Tesseracts Twenty-One: Nevertheless, EDGE Best Related Work Eligibility - When to Now: A Time Travel Anthology, Alison McBain (Lead Editor), Fairfield Scribes - Nevertheless (Tesseracts Twenty One), Rhonda Parrish and Greg Bechtel, EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing And last, but not least, my dad is also eligible! Here is his work: Best Fan Writing and Publication Eligibility - Danger, Will Robinson!, John McBain, Bewildering Stories And there are many, many more works by amazing Canadian authors and artists. I hope you get your nominations in!   Looking for some fun stuff to do this weekend? Come say hi! I'll be at two literary events this weekend on Saturday and Sunday.
First off is the Torrington Author Expo and Book Fair. It's on Saturday from 12-4pm and includes a great variety of local authors who will be there, including Rick Arruzza, Katie L. Carroll, Suzanne Cordatos, Rich Cyr, Shelby Davis, Terri Dixon, Charlene A. Donaghy, Olyvia Freeman, Sheryl Kayne, Tabitha G. Kelly, Christine Pakkala, Renée Pirie, Donna Marie Merritt, C.R. Quinn, Susan B. Roara, Jack Sheedy, Jamie Jackson Spannhake, and yours truly. My friend and fellow author/editor from the Fairfield Scribes, P.C. Keeler, will also be there. There will be raffles and giveaways, coffee and munchies, and a panel to help you "Just Write it Already!" Then on Sunday, I'll be joining 3 other fab local poets at the Fairfield Public Library at 2pm for a poetry reading and a Q & A session about poetry writing and publishing. The poets include me, Edward Ahern, Jeff Schwartz and Jack Powers. The event is free, and all are welcome to attend! You can find out more info about it on the library's website HERE. So if you're looking for something to do inside to get out of the rainy weekend forecast for our area, I hope you'll be able to stop by at one of these great events and chat with me about writing, poetry, and publishing.  This spring has been a CRAZY one in terms of events, news, and pubs. I usually do 1-2 blog posts a month, but there has been a ton of stuff going on, so I want to make sure my updates are timely. Here's the latest news: Publications: It's been a while since the acceptance, but my story "Afterlife" has been published at On Spec! I'm especially thrilled by this publication, since not only is On Spec a fabulous publication, but it's a double issue and my story is the first full-length one in the magazine. It's a ghost story and a love story, but neither part of these themes are what you'd call "traditional" in the story. And, in keeping with April poetry month, I had two poems published in The Mark Literary Review: "Two-Cat Town" and "Lucky Number Seven." You can read them for free online HERE.  "Skyward Bound" by Richard Ong. Acceptances:
They keep rolling in! I am thrilled that my story "The Prototype" was picked up at Exoplanet Magazine, and should be published soon. And my flash fiction story "Liquid" will be published at Quail Bell Magazine, a really beautiful online and print magazine. Interviews: I had a very fun interview at Rachel Michelle's website Free the Writer, which is a great site featuring writing tips, news, and other writerly-themed posts. News: I'm thrilled that the art for my book cover of science fiction short stories (coming out in 2020) has been finished! The creator is Richard Ong, the same fabulous artist who did the cover for my latest book release, Enchantress of Books and other stories. It's taken from a scene from my short story "The Prototype," which will be one of the stories featured in the collection. The title of the painting is "Skyward Bound," which I love so much that I'm making it the title of the book: SKYWARD BOUND: SF SHORTS. There will be more info about that later in the year, but for now, here's a sneak preview of Rich's amazing retro-SciFi-inspired artwork! There is more news on the horizon, including local events in Connecticut where I'll be doing readings and workshops in the next couple months, plus more of my books coming out this summer and fall - so stay tuned! And... my new fantasy book is out in print and eBook!!!
Enchantress of Books and other stories - over 200 pages and 19 great fantasy short stories to tide readers over until The Rose Queen sequel comes out later this year... The eBook is free on Kindle Unlimited - hope you enjoy reading it! Perhaps I should write on my blog more often - or perhaps this has just been an eventful month - but LOTS of stuff has been going on lately, and I'm so excited to share all of it.
First off, in celebration of poetry month, the wonderful folks of the Poets' Salon (including me!) will be doing a poetry workshop/reading this upcoming Saturday, April 13th, from 1:30pm to about 4pm at our local Fairfield Library. We'll read a bit of our poetry, have an open mic period, and also chat about what it takes to write and get your own poems published. We will have great snacks and drinks to keep you fueled, too - so be sure to drop in for a nosh and a rhyme. More info can be found HERE. Hope to see you there! Next, I've had a slew of writing acceptances and publications recently. I had two drabbles (100-word stories) accepted for the Dark Drabbles # 1 Anthology, coming out June 25th. Speaking of coming out, my poem "lemures" was published at Plum Tree Tavern, and I also had my flash story "Ceasefire" published at The Ekphrastic Review. I actually read "Ceasefire" live down at KGB Bar in NYC this past Friday night. (Thanks to everyone who braved the nasty weather to come out and read/listen to our stories!) My friend and fellow writer Barbara Russell interviewed me and reviewed my novel The Rose Queen on her website - you can find her fabulous post HERE. Another review came out today at Life of a Writer: Turn Another Page, and The Rose Queen got a glowing 4.5 out of 5 stars. I'm so thrilled that my book is getting such rave reviews! Speaking about feedback on writerly projects, When to Now: A Time Travel Anthology is raking in the awards and nominations. The anthology overall won 1st place in the 2019 Connecticut Press Club Communications Contest in the editing category, and Gabi Coatsworth's story "Misconception" took first place in the same contest for the short story category. Leslie Burton-López's story "Baggage" made the Editors' Choice Fourth Quarterly Review at Bewildering Stories, and Elizabeth Chatsworth's story "Ten Minutes Past Teatime" is a finalist for the 2019 New England Readers' Choice Contest. Whew! Some truly amazing stories and authors in the anthology and I am so happy that their stories are getting such good press. I hope everyone gives the anthology a read - you won't be disappointed, since there's something for every reader. Speaking of awards, the anthology AFTERMATH: Explorations of Loss and Grief, containing my poem "Assimilation," is a 2019 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award Finalist. Congrats to the amazing publishers, Lantz Arroyo, Nicholas Hurd, and Sarah Lopez, who are getting such wonderful recognition for their debut publishing project! They have a lot more exciting projects that have come out since then or are on the horizon, so be sure to check them out. More exciting news coming soon!  The literary and humor writer Paul Beckman runs a monthly reading series the first Friday of every month in the Red Room (3rd floor) at KGB Bar in New York City. I'll be returning on April 5th to take part in "F Bomb NY: Flash Fiction Reading Series," along with several other fabulous flash fiction writers.
So stop by to hear some great stories and have a drink or two. KGB Bar is located at 85 E 4th Street, and the event will take place from 7-9pm. Hope to see you there! I know I'm probably not the only writer to do this, but I go through phases of both writing and submitting. Sometimes all I want to do is buckle down and get rid of all the stories bouncing around in my head, so submitting falls to the back burner. Sometimes it's the opposite - I realize I haven't had any publications come out in a while and I have a stockpile of unpubbed works cluttering up my computer, so I'll go on a submitting kick.
I'm in phase # 2 right now - submitting - and my focus has been poetry. Partly, I have my friend and fellow poet Ed to thank for that - I'm currently working on getting his poetry book Irregular Images to publication in time for April poetry month, so I've spent a lot of time reading and formatting poems recently. It inspired me to sub a few of my own, with no little success. I had two poems published in the online magazine Down in the Dirt last week: "Shared," inspired by my lovely mother-in-law who has always been a wonderfully positive influence in my life, and "Sphinxes and Daughters." I'm also pleased to say that both poems will be appearing in the print issue of Down in the Dirt in November/December this year. I also had 4 poems published in Literary Yard today: "Morning Mantras," inspired by my time living in Brooklyn and taking the train to work into New York City, "Grandmother's Words," inspired by my dad's mom who, no joke, published her debut novel at age 90, "A Warning to Prometheus," and "Beyond." Last but not least, my poem "lemures" will be published in Plum Tree Tavern in a few weeks. I wrote it after listening to the wonderful stories and seeing the amazing photographs taken by my sister Genever after she spent 8 months in Madagascar studying and photographing lemurs. So most of my successes recently I will lay at the feet of my amazing family, who continues to inspire my creativity. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Love you all! Several of the authors and editors of the Fairfield Scribes, including me, Edward Ahern, and Elizabeth Chatsworth, will be at the 4th Annual Local Authors Fest, hosted by the Public Library of New London. It takes place from 11am-2pm this Saturday, March 23rd. From the library's website:
Here's more info about it:   There are over 50 local authors anticipated to be there, so it's guaranteed to be an amazing event - with something for every type of reader. Hope to see you there!
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